Changeling Child
by Foxbracken - Phoenix Everren
Summary: LakeClan have been thriving for moons, for too long to count. But when the Teller of Tales's stories start coming to light, how does it affect Thunderkit and Shadowkit, and the rest of LakeClan? And how can they defeat an enemy that no cat has any knowledge about, even Blindweed, who knows about how the Ulciscere may have started? Besides, there is no Changeling Child in LakeClan..


**Leader: **Lynxstar – lithe black she-cat with a gray ticked back and sharp violet eyes

**Deputy: **Bobbedtail – lean, mottled gray-and-brown tom with amber eyes and a bobbed tail

**Medicine Cat: **Scorpiontail – tiny tan-brown she-cat with brown eyes

**Apprentice, Cardinalwing**

**Warriors:**

Desertstorm – skinny pale ginger she-cat with dark gray eyes

**Apprentice, Howlpaw**

Muleheart – stocky gray tom with a black stripe running down his spine that also breaks off at his shoulders, yellow eyes

**Apprentice, Stagpaw **

Crayfish – dark blue-gray tom with a pale underbelly and blue eyes

Coyotesong – tall, scrawny pale brown she-cat with a bushy tail and pale yellow eyes

Owlscreech – sleek tawny she-cat with feathered ears and light green eyes

**Apprentice, Coatipaw **

Raccoontail – dark gray tom with a black ringed tail and dark eyes

Neemleaf – mottled black she-cat with amber eyes

Dust-tail – fluffy dark brown tabby tom with dark amber eyes

Sennafur – gray tom with black flecks and blue eyes

**Apprentices:**

Howlpaw - scrawny, gray-brown she-cat with dark ears and tail, lighter underbelly and muzzle, orange eyes

Stagpaw – tall brown-ginger tom with darker ears and throat, yellow eyes

Coatipaw – tan tom with a long, black ringed tail, black muzzle and paws, green eyes

Cardinalwing – swift ginger tabby tom with blue eyes

**Queens: **

Pumapelt – slender, tan she-cat with black ears, tail tip and toes, pale underbelly and pale yellow eyes (Mother to Crayfish's kit: Ridgekit – lithe tan-gray she-cat with dark green eyes)

Lynxstar – (see leader) (Mother to Bobbedtail's kits: Thunderkit – wiry brown tom with bright amber eyes, Shadowkit – slender, lithe black she-cat with yellow-gold eyes)

**Elders:**

Cactusthorn – spiky, dusky brown she-cat with dull gray eyes

Blindweed – shaggy, scrawny, dark ginger-red tom with a darker 'mane' around his neck and failing green eyes (Teller of Tales)

* * *

A tiny tan-brown she-cat sat next to a lithe black queen, her gray ticked back ruffled and her sides heaving as her jaws tightened around the stick, her flank rippling. "Push, Lynxstar!" The tiny she-cat cried.

The queen, Lynxstar, her hissed muffled and shuddered as she pushed. Finally, one bundle slide into the nest and a ginger tabby tom snagged it, nipping the kitting sac and licking the fur the wrong way. The tiny wiry brown kit parted its jaws and wailed, sucking in air. The tabby purred in relief and placed the kit next to Lynstar's side. "One tom kit," he meowed.

The tiny she-cat nodded, smiling at her apprentice before placing a paw on Lynstar's side. "Another one's coming!" She alerted and the black she-cat pushed out a tiny kit. The ginger tabby tom grabbed the kit, nipped the sac, and licking the black fur the wrong way. The black kit sucked in a lung full of air and the tom nudged it to its brother.

"One she-kit," he meowed.

Lynxstar nodded weakly, panting around the stick. The tiny she-cat and the tabby tom exchanged a worried glance, for Lynxstar had been kitting since sunhigh and it was well into the night and the leader had two more on the way.

Lynxstar gave a subdued cry and another bundle slipped out. The tabby pinched the sac opened and licked the tabby kit's fur the wrong way, but it didn't move. He shook his head to the tiny she-cat and pulled the bundle aside.

The kitting queen, filled with pain wasn't fully aware about her lost kit, pushed again, another bundle sliding out.

But it too, was stillborn.

The tabby tom also pulled the body aside and picked both out, slipping out of the nursery, into the cave that made the camp, and into the night.

The tiny she-cat pulled the stick away and Lynxstar collapsed on her side, too tired to pull her kits to her belly, so the tan-brown cat nudged them to her leader. "Two healthy kits," the tiny she-cat murmured. "One tom and one she-kit; would you like to get Bobbedtail?"

Lynxstar nodded and the she-cat padded out and over to a lean mottled tom, his stubby tail wagging with worry. "Two kits, Bobbedtail," the she-cat meowed, dropping her voice suddenly. "Two didn't make it."

Bobbedtail hung his head with grief, but raised it again and blinked down at the tiny she-cat. "Thank you, Scorpiontail. I'm going to see her now." With those words, the tom padded over to the nursery and slipped inside.

Scorpiontail nodded to the returning ginger tabby and whispered, "I told Bobbedtail about the kits, were you able to bury them okay, Cardinalwing?"

Cardinalwing nodded and followed his mentor back to the medicine cat den. "Thank StarClan the coyotes are gone," he breathed, his mentor nodding in agreement. Cardinalwing blinked his blue eyes at Scorpiontail, who was curled in her nest, and asked as he lied down, "Did Blindweed tell you the prophecy he received?"

Scorpiontail snorted, closing her eyes. "Of course he did. But there is no changeling child and the Ulciscere doesn't exists, that old fool has heard his stories too many times if he believes that."

Cardinalwing didn't reply, he knew Scorpiontail was fond of the Teller of Tales and she didn't mean him a real fool, but he didn't like the fact his mentor wouldn't listen to the prophecy. He knew it wasn't good for him to believe so strongly in Blindweed's tales, but he believed the Teller of Tales that truth rang in each story and prophecy.

The ginger tabby closed his blue eyes and sighed softly, drifting into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

**This is the sequel to 'The Beginning of LakeClan'. If you haven't read it, I suggest you do so you can understand it better.**

**Also, I've finished _The Sight _and _Fell _by David Clement-Davies, and now I'm reading _Fire Bringer _by the same author. So, those three books are influencing me to write this story. But it's not a crossover because it doesn't have the characters or the exact same plotline. **


End file.
